Twenty groups, including OMB Watch, have sent a letter calling on Congress to include accountability and transparency provisions in any health care reform legislation. Specifically, the groups focused on federal advisory committees – panels that will provide critical advice on health care issues if legislation is passed. The groups represent a wide variety of public interest issues.

Check off another one of the Bush administration’s midnight regulations that will be changed by the Obama administration.

The Environmental Protection Agency is readying a replacement for the current national air quality standard for ozone, or smog, which was roundly fouled up during the Bush administration.

Last Wednesday (Oct. 21), EPA sent to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) – the gatekeeper for all things regulatory – a draft version of a new notice of proposed rulemaking. That notice will propose revisions to the ozone standard finalized in March 2008.

Yesterday, speaking at the Environmental Law Institute, Judge David S. Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reminded federal agencies that they need to follow the law when writing regulations. BNA news service (subscription) recorded some of the comments.